Tooth guard



p 1950 v. H. CARPENTER 2,521,039

- TOOTH GUARD Filed March 16, 1949 Patented Sept. 5, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TOOTH GUARD Victor H. Carpenter, Boston, Mass.

Application March 16, 1949, Serial No. 81,758

6 Claims. (01. 128-436) The present invention is concerned with a guard to protect the teeth of football players and participants in other games and sports, who are liable to receive shocks and blows on the front teeth severe enough to break or loosen them. One of its objects is to afiord better protection to the teeth than is given by any of the guards heretofore known. A further object is to provide in a guard of this type adequate passageways for flow of air to the lungs of the wearer in breathing, and to prevent closing of the wearers jaws sufiiciently to close such passageways.

The invention is embodied in an article having the characteristics described in the following specification and shown in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a tooth guard embodying this invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the guard;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the guard;

Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the guard;

Fig. 5 is a sectional View taken on line 55 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Like reference characters designate the same parts wherever they occur in all the figures.

My guard is made of yielding and highly resilient material, preferably of soft vulcanized rubber composition. As a whole it is curved corresponding to the curvature of the tooth lines of a full grown man. It is made with a central web a designed to be clamped between the upper and lower teeth of the user, with upper and lower outer flanges b and c to cover the outer sides of the upper and lower teeth respectively and part of the adjacent gums, and with upper and lower inner flanges d and e spaced apart from the outer flanges and of less height than the latter.

Breathing channels or ports 1 and g are formed through the web a in the front part of the guard, these channels being separated from one another in the median part of the guard by an integral portion h of the web a which forms a strut or brace. These channels are entirely surrounded by the substance of the web a. They are long enough in the circumferential dimension of the guard, and wide enough in the axial direction, to enable an adequate supply of air for breathing to be drawn into the lungs of the user when exerting himself strongly in running or other efforts of strength. In the guard here shown the channels are approximately two tenths of an inch wide and nearly an inch long on the outer face of the guard.

The web a tapers in thickness from the middle or forward part of the guard to the rear extremities of both sides, the thickness at the part where the strut h. is located being about twenty six hundredths of an inch and at the rear extremities about twelve hundredths of an inch. These rear extremities extend far enough to enter between the bicuspids and first molars of a mans jaws, and they prevent the teeth from being closed tightly together. These parts of the web, the increasing taper of the web toward the median portion, and the strut h cooperate to prevent the wearer from distorting the guard so as to close the ports I and g by clamping his jaws together. Thus, no matter how hard he may bite on the web, and notwithstanding the softness of the rubber composition of which the guard is made, he cannot close the air ports. By separating his lips while biting on the web, he is assured of adequate air supply for breathing while obtaining all benefit from clamping his jaws.

The inner flanges d and e are separated from the outer flanges b and c by a distance suflicient to provide channels wide enough to receive the teeth of different players whose jaws may vary from one another somewhat in width and curvature. These inner flanges help to centralize the guard with the wearers teeth and insure that the web will be located and retained between the teeth of the upper and lower jaws. That is, they insure that the web at either side of the guard will not fail to be gripped by the teeth when the jaws are closed together.

In use, the outer flanges soften blows received against the teeth of the wearer, and the web, when gripped between the teeth, distributes the force of impact of a blow or shock.

Being made of material of the character indicated, the edges of the outer flanges can be trimmed if too high, and the rear extremities can be cut ofi if they extend too far to flt comfortably when gripped between the teeth.

What I claim'is:

1. A tooth guard having a curvature conforming substantially to the tooth lines of a normal human being and being constructed of soft resilient, flexible material with a web, flanges extending in opposite directions from the outer boundary of said web adapted to lie between the teeth and lips of the wearer and to cover the outer sides of the teeth and part of the adjacent gums, and other flanges extending oppositely from the inner boundary of the web and separated from the first named flanges by channels sufficiently wide to receive the teeth of the upper and lower jaws, said guard having breath- 3 ing slots extending through the web from the outer to the inner boundaries thereof, and entirely surrounded by the substance of the web.

2. A tooth guard as set forth in claim 1, in which the slots are separated by an integral portion in the median line of the guard constituting a strut or brace resistant to collapse of the breathing slots by pressure of the wearers teeth.

3. A tooth guard asset forth in claim 1, in which the ends of the web extend rearwardly far enough to lie between the bicuspid teeth ofthe wearer whereby to prevent closing of the jaws sufficiently to collapse the breathing slots.

4. A tooth guard comprising a central web curved conformably to the tooth lines of a normal person and having dimensions. such that it may lie between the upper and lower jaws of a person from the bicuspidl teeth at one side of the jaws to the corresponding teeth at the other side, said web being of gradually increasing thickness from beth-rear'ends toward-the middle and having' long breathing slots through the thickest part substance and entirely surrounded by that substance-theguard having also flanges projeeting in opposite directions from the outer perimeter of the web adapted to be received betweenthe teeth and lips of the wearer and to cover the outer faces ofthe teeth and part of the adjacent gums.

5; A tooth guard asset forth in claim 4, and being provides} additionally with flanges extending-in eppositedireeti'onsfrom the inner boundary of the web in positi'onto lieadjacent to the inner faces of the-teeth;

6. A tooth guard curved conformably with the tooth lines of a normal person and constructed of soft vulcanized rubber composition with a central web and flanges extendin oppositely to one another from both the outer and inner edges of the web, the web having breathing slots extending through its substance in the medial portion of the guard and being tapered. with diminishing thickness from its medial portion to its rear extremities, the slots being separated from one another by an integral part of the guard which forms a strut to resist collarning of the slots by the closing together of the Wearers jaws, and the extremities of the web extending rearwardly sufficiently far to enter between the bicuspid teeth of the wearer and: thereby serving to prevent closings together of the wearers front teeth.

VICTOR H. CARPENTER.

anrnnenons orrnn The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Germany May 27,1937 

